Long way round?

I left Austria 11 years ago. I lived in Helsinki before I ventured to Great Britain. I lived in Oxfordshire, Manchester, Cornwall and Plymouth before settling in the Shropshire plains. So, here I am. In a village even smaller than the one I left....

Back home I bumped into some locals in the pub I hadn’t seen for the best part of 10 years. They were very interested in my life in the UK (being not just an exile villager but also the local landlords daughter and having rather proud parents who keep everybody well informed I do attract a certain amount of attention).  After I explained that I now dwelled in the Shropshire plains in a significantly smaller village they pointed out that I might as well have stayed at home... hmmm... I laughed about it at the time but it did make me think.

At the tender age of 20 I wanted to see the world, experience other cultures, do weird, wonderful and amazing things and be everywhere else but at home. I did nothing by half – visiting a country wasn’t quite enough, I had to live it, breath it, eat and smell it (and drink quite a lot of its alcohol in the progress). Clueless, fearless and curious I floated through my early twenties collecting stories to tell my grandchildren.

And now? The only adventure I embark on is the fight with middle aged mothers over the “reduced” items in the meat isle in Tesco. Recently my sister in law and me spent an entire evening tracking down the name of her daughters’ favourite Bratz doll. The excitement I felt when we finally pressed the “Order” button on Amazon I could only describe as “orgasmic”. My days are filled with dirty nappies, dirty laundry, hoovering and dusting occasionally interrupted by blowing raspberries, drying tears after the 20^th tumble of the day, making bottles and brushing varieties of crumbs off my clothes.

Sounds familiar? Most women my age with young families will nod in agreement. Would my life be the same had I stayed in Austria? Most probably yes.  Would I become the super cool granny I am going to be? Not by a long way! Peace and love man! I’d do it all exactly the same way again....